


sprinkles

by lazyfish



Series: Genuary 2021 [4]
Category: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (TV)
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-10
Updated: 2021-01-10
Packaged: 2021-03-14 13:41:52
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 722
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28671684
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lazyfish/pseuds/lazyfish
Summary: On Cal's birthday, Fitz and Daisy visit a grocery store.
Relationships: Leo Fitz & Skye | Daisy Johnson
Series: Genuary 2021 [4]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2087955
Comments: 14
Kudos: 34





	sprinkles

It’s just a grocery store.

It’s just a grocery store, so she shouldn’t be this nervous, but she is. Daisy wipes her sweaty palms on her jeans. “Thanks for coming with me,” she mumbles.

Fitz doesn’t answer, just shrugs. 

They probably didn’t need to come to the grocery store for this - they could’ve just gone to a pharmacy somewhere - but Daisy has a feeling she’ll want to grab more than just the birthday card she came to the grocery store for the first place.

“That says the cards are this way,” Fitz says, pointing to a sign hanging above one of the aisles. Daisy lets him lead her, because her head feels like it’s full of cotton and the thoughts can’t push through. They stop in front of the display and Daisy forces herself to take a deep breath.

Her eyes immediately dart to the section that says _Birthday - Dad_.

It is her dad’s birthday. She knows because she follows his vet office’s Facebook page and they’re having a fundraiser in celebration of his birthday. But Daisy can’t get Cal a card that says _Happy Birthday, Dad_ , because as far as he knows, he doesn’t have a daughter. He’s just a vet in Wisconsin, childless but with an awful lot of animals to take care of.

She wonders if he’s named any of them Daisy.

“You alright?” Fitz asks when it’s been two minutes and she still hasn’t moved.

Daisy nods. She just hasn’t found a card she likes yet. This is going to be her first birthday card to her dad, and maybe her last and only. She wants it to be a good one.

“I’m going to go get a couple other things. Call me if you need to.”

Daisy doesn't need to call him, because he comes back to the card rack ten minutes later and she’s still there. Just staring.

“You can make one, if you’d like,” Fitz suggests.

Daisy wonders if she would’ve done that, if she’d grown up with Cal and Jiaying. If Jiaying would’ve sat her down at their kitchen table and given her a box of crayons and told her _It’s time to make Daddy a birthday card._ The thought sticks in her throat because it’s exactly the kind of scene she imagined a hundred times when she was in foster care. But now it’s too late. She can’t go back to the base and color her dad a card because -

She doesn’t have a reason. But she just can’t.

“What do you have?” she asks instead, gesturing to Fitz’s full hands.

“Chocolate cake,” he says, holding the box up. “Your favorite.”

“Fitz -”

“Just because he can’t eat the cake with us doesn’t mean we can’t make it,” Fitz insists. “We need something to celebrate.”

And they do. Jemma’s disappeared and Bobbi’s hurt and May’s gone, and Daisy could actually _really_ use a slice of chocolate cake right about now. Or every other day, but especially now.

“I got icing, too,” he says earnestly, holding up his other hand. True to his word, there’s a can of frosting in it.

“And sprinkles?” Daisy asks, voice small. 

Fitz grins. “Rainbow ones.”

Daisy steps forward and takes one of the cards off the shelf. She’s been considering it a while; it has a wreath of flowers around _Happy Birthday_ in a mint-green script. She had wanted one of the flowers to be a daisy, and it’s honestly just her disappointment that there are no daisies anywhere to be seen that’s kept her from picking a card.

She wants Cal to remember her. She knows why he can’t, but she still _wants_ him to.

It was kind of nice to have a dad, even if he was crazy and… well, _crazy_. In the end he’d done the right thing. He’d protected her. Daisy’s still waiting for things to quiet down enough for her to be able to sort out how she feels about him (about both her parents, really), but the bottom line is, if she had a choice… she would choose to see what happened with Cal.

But she doesn’t have a choice.

“Ready?” Fitz asks, shifting all his cake-making supplies into one arm so he can hold his hand out to her.

Daisy takes his offered hand, chest warming when he squeezes it gently. “Ready.”


End file.
